Sole-machine.



E. E. WINKLEY.

SOLE MACHINE.

APPL] OOOOOOOOOOO MAY 222222 6.

1,028,982. Patented June 11, 1912.

UNITE) SATES PATENT OFFTQE.

EBASTUS E. WINKLEY, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

SOLEJVEACHINE.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EnAs'rUs E. WVINKLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sole-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to sole machines.

In the preparation of soles and insoles for use in boots and shoes it is customary to pre pare the margins of the sole or insole blanks, for the reception of the stitches by which the parts of the shoes are secured together, by various operations, including usually the formation of a groove or channel at a short distance from the edge of the blank, and a shoulder or lip between the channel or groove and the edge of the blank. Frequently also when the sole stock is of poor quality a reinforcing fabric is applied to the lipped surface of the sole and to the lip itself to add strength. The machines for performing these operations comprise usually mcans engaging the marginal portion of a blank, and acting to support and feed the blank and to perform the necessary operations thereon while the blank is held and guided by the operator in order that it may properly engage the operating means, it be ing necessary for the operator to swing the blank in conformity with the curvature of its edge, particularly in rounding the toe.

The object of the present invention is to produce a machine for operating on sole or insole blanks in which the assistance of an operator is not necessary for the guiding of the blank, the blank being guided automatr cally by the machine and swung at the proper time in conformity with the curvature of its edge, and the invention is applicable to all sole machines of the general character above described which operate upon a blank in which a marginal groove, channel or abutment of any character has been formed by a previous operation, such abutment being utilized in the present in vention in guiding the blank for the subse quent operations thereon. The feature of Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 24, 1906.

Patented June 11, 1912.

Serial No. 318,530.

the invention by means of which this object is accomplished, together with other features of the invention, including certain details of construction and combinations of parts, will be explained in the following description and then pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of an insole-lip-turning machine embodying the present invention Fig. 2 is a similar View from the other side; Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of the machine, showing particularly the guide and its supporting mechanism; and Fig. i is a sectional plan view of the same parts.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a machine for turning and setting the lip of an insole blank which has been previously channeled and slitted, and as the machine illustrated is the same in its general construction and mode of operation as the machine shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 635,772, granted October 31, 1899, to John B. Hadaway, and familiar to those skilled in the art, only so much of the machine is shown and described as is necessary to an understanding of the present invention.

The machine of the drawings is provided with a work support 1, a feed wheel 9., a lip turner 3, a lip setter 4, a presser foot 5 and a slitting knife 6, all of which are actuated and operate in the manner set forth in the patent above referred to, and the present invention is embodied in the machine by the addition thereto of a guide 7 which engages the channel of the insole blank adjacent to the point at which the lip turning, setting and slitting devices are operating, this guide serving to maintain the blank in proper pcsition relative to the operating means as the blank is fed, and causing the blank to swing in conformity with the curvature of its edge. The guide 7 is provided with a dove-tailed shank 8 (see Fig. 4) which is engaged by a clamp plate 9 secured by a screw 10 to a piw otcd carrier 11, the guide being by this construction adjustably secured to the carrier. The carrier 11 is fixed to a stem 12 which is journaled in a sleeve 13 formed integral with a bracket 14 mounted on the frame of the machine. The bracket 14- is adjustably secured to the frame of the machine by means of the screw 15 by which the lip turner 3 is secured in place, this screw pass ing through a slot in the shank 16 of the bracket. A spring 17 engaging at one end the guide carrier 11, and fixed at its other end to the sleeve 13, holds the guide nor mally in operative position, this position be ing determined by a stop screw 18 which is threaded into the carrier 11 and engages a fixed portion of the machine, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The pivotal ar rangement of the guide carrier and the spring are used for the purpose of permitting the carrier to be swung upward from the work support to facilitate the insertion and removal of insole blanks by the opera tor, it being necessary for this purpose merely to swing the carrier 11 upward, in sert the channel guide 7 in the channel of the insole, and then permit the carrier to fall while the insole is inserted between the work support and the feed wheel, the work support being for this purpose drawn down in the usual manner. During the operation of the machine upon the blank the channel guide is held in operative position by the spring 17.

By means of the adjustments above described for the channel guide, its carrier and the bracket upon which the carrier is mounted, the position of the channel guide may be varied in accordance with the thickness of the blanks operated upon, and the distance of the channel from the base of the lip. The extremity of the channel guide, as shown in Figs. 2 and -1 is beveled so as to enter to the bottom of the channel, and is rounded so as not to present sharp corners to catch in the leather. The position of the guide 7, at one side in the direction of feed of the point of operation of the feeding means, causes it to swing the blank inward when ever its curvature, as convexly curved por tions of the margin at the toe and ball, is such that the feeding means tend to swing the blank outward and away from a proper operating position relative to the operating instrumentalities. The inward movement of the blank, under the influence of the guide 7, is halted, with the margin of the blank in proper operating relation to the operating tools, by the engagement of the blank with the lip turner 3. The lip turner 3, because of its formation, and location in advance of the feeding means, also acts as a guide for the blank and causes it to swing outward whenever its curvature, as the concavely curved portions at the shank, is such that the feeding means tend to swing the blank inward too far under the operating instrumentalities. In this case the guide 7 halts the outward movement of the blank and maintains it in proper operating relation to the operating tools. By means of the cooperat-ion and combined action of the outer and inner guides 3 and 7, the work is auto matically presented in proper position to the lipturning and setting devices throughoutthe operation upon the blank, and the atten tion of the operator for this purpose is unnecessary.

It will be understood that the guiding de vice, which in the illustrated embodiment of the invention is formed to engage a channel, may be modified in form to engage abutments of other forms previously formed in the blank, such, for instance, as grooves or shoulders, which are sometimes used in place of a channel to receive the seam, such modification being within the skill of a mechanic, and that the invention may be embodied in machines for performing other operations than that of turning up and setting the lip, suclroperations including, for example, the preparation of the edge of the blank for the stitches in other manners, as by shouldering, or by the application of reinforcing material thereto.

The invention is not limited, in general, to the details of construction and operation of the illustrated embodiment, but may be embodied in other forms broadly defined in the claims.

Having now described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A machine for operating on a partlyfinished insole blank provided with :1 marginal abutment, having, in combination, means for supporting, feeding and operating upon the marginal portion of the blank, including a guide at one side in the direction of feed of the point of operation of the feeding means engaging the abutment in opposition to the operating means to swing the 1 blank inward and maintain it in operating position relative to said means while operating on the convexly curved portions of the margin of the blank, substantially as de scribed.

2. A machine for operating on a partlytinished insole blank provided with a marginal abutment, having, in combination, means for supporting the flat blank, means for feeding the blank and for operating upon the blank outside of said abutment, and a guide at one side in the direction of feed of the point of operation of the feeding means engaging the abutment on the inside to swing the blank inward and hold the blank in engagement with the operating means as an end portion of the blank is fed past said means, substantially as described.

3. A machine for operating on a channcled insole blank, having, in combination, means for supporting the flat blank, means for operating on the marginal portion of the blank, means for feeding the blank, and a guide at one side in the direction of feed of the point of operation of the feeding means engaging the channel and acting in opposition to the operating means to swing the blank inward as an end portion is being fed and hold it in engagement with the operating means, substantially as described.

4. A machine for operating on a channeled insole blank, having, in combination, means for supporting, feeding and operating on the marginal portions of the blank, and a normally-fixed guide at one side in the direction of feed of the point of operation of the feeding means engaging in the channel of the blank to swing the conveXly curved portions of the margin of the blank inward. substantially as described.

5. A machine for operating on a channeled insole blank, having, in combination, means for supporting the flat blank, means for feeding the blank and for turning up and setting the lip thereof, and a guide at one side in the direction of feed of the point of operation of the feeding means engaging the channel to swing the blank inward and to maintain the blank in proper operative relation to the lip-turning means as an end portion of the blank is fed past said means, substantially described.

6. A lip-turning machine, having, in combination, means for supporting and feeding the marginal portion of a channeled insole blank, separate means for turning the lip of the insole, and a channel guide to guide and swing the blank normally fixed but movably mounted so as to be retracted in inserting or removing a blank, substantially as described.

7. A lip turning machine, having, in combination, a work support to engage the unlipped surface of the sole, means cooperating therewith to feed the sole, means for turning the lip of the sole and a channel guide arranged to engage the channel of the sole and swing the blank inward as it is fed to present the convexly curved portions of its margin properly to the lip turning means, substantially described.

8. A machine for operating on a partlyfinished insole blank, having, in combination, means to support the flat blank, mechanism for operating on the marginal portion of the blank, means to feed successive portions of the blank to said mechanism, and means in advance of the feeding means to control the direction of movement of said blank under the influence of said feeding means throughout the entire operation on" the blank, substantially as described.

9. A machine for operating on a partlytinished insole blank provided with a marginal abutment, having, in combination, means to support the flat blank, tools for operating on the marginal portion of the blank, means to feed successive portions of the blank to said tools, and means other than the feeding means engaging both sides of the abutment for controlling the direction of movement of the blank in its passage to said tools, substantially as described. 7

10. A machine for operating on a partlyfinished insole blank provided with a marginal abutment, having, in combination, means to support the flat blank, mechanism for cperating on the marginal portion of the blank, means to feed successive portions of the blank to said mechanism, and means independent of said mechanism in advance of the feeding means constructed and arranged to engage the inner side of said abutment and control the direction of movement of the blank during the passage of an end portion past said mechanism, substantially as described.

11. A machine for operating on a partlyfinished insole blank provided with a channel lip, having, in combii'iation, means to support the flat blank, mechanism for oper ating on the n'iarginal portion of the blank, means to feed the blank, and means to guide the blank comprising a guide to engage the blank inside the channel lip and a guide to engage the blank outside the channel lip, both of said guides being disposed in advance of the feeding means, substantially as described.

12. A machine for operating on a partlytinished insole blank provided with a mar ginal abutment, having, in combination, means for supporting a flat blank, feeding means arranged to engage the marginal portion of the blank and acting to feed it in a right line, tools for operating on the marginal portion of the blank, and a guide engaging the abutment in opposition to said tools but in advance of the feeding means to swing the blank inward when its curvature is such that it tends to swing outward, substantially described.

13. A machine for operating on a partlyfinished insole blank provided with a marginal abutment, having, in combination, a table for supporting a flat blank, a feed wheel above the table to engage the margin of the blank outside the abutment, tools for operating on the marginal portion of the blank, and two opposed guides engaging the abutment in advance of the feeding means for swinging the blank across the line of feed, each guide acting alternately to impart movement to the blank in one direction and then to halt the movement in the opposite direction imparted to the blank by the other guide whereby the blank is maintained in proper operating relation to the operating means throughout the entire operation on the blank, substantially as described.

14. A machine for operating on a partlytinished insole blank, having, in combination, means for suppm'ting, feeding and operating on the marginal portion of the blank, and guides for engaging the blank l l l l l l in advance of the feeding means for swing- In testimony whereof I aflix my signaing the blank both inward and outward ture, in. presence of two witnesses.

across the line of feed to rnalntain the blank ERASTUS E VINKLE Y. in proper operating position relative to sa1d operating means as sueeessive portions of \Vitnesses:

the blank are fed forward, substantially as FABNUM F. DoRsEY,

described. HORACE VAN EVEREN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

